Crystal Past
by stoner-blake
Summary: Everyone thought the age old crystal statues of dragons that had been found in the excavation had been just that, statues...
1. Prologue Part 1

**As of right now, there's a dragon AU craze going around on tumblr in the RWBY fandom. This is my attempt at making a story with it.**

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It was a sheer cliff-side, the edge of the rocky formation dropping off steeply almost straight down the forest that lay roughly a mile below it. The constant wind blowing against the grooves in the stone wall made sounds like animals howling before gusting upwards and over the top. Given that there was nothing to stop a person or animal from falling right over the edge if they slipped, it was hard to feel comfortable at all while looking off the rocky top of it. Especially if you had your claws right on the curved edge where it dropped off.

"Do we really have to do this Yang?" The smaller dragon asked. Roughly the size of a horse, the crimson dragon might have seemed large compared to most animals or people, but in their terms she was tiny, small even for a young juvenile. Although even if you couldn't tell by the size, other features made it easy to determine how young she was. The slightly crooked obsidian horns had only grown out of being nubs a while ago, her tail little more than a triangular stub, and the frills on her neck yet to grow in. Even the spikes along her back and tail had yet to fully grow out, each bump along her spine looking more like rounded halves of dark pebbles, with red streaks just visible on them.

The air blowing up into her face made her blink repeatedly before she pulled her head back from over the edge, trying not to let grey eyes water. Her wings tucked in close to her back, she peered up at the much larger dragon next to her. "This doesn't seem quite safe." They had been there on the cliff for a handful of minutes now, her tail shifting from one side to the other as she tentatively glanced at the drop below.

"It'll be fine Ruby." The voice of her sister was underlined by a constant purring growl that came with each word, much like how any dragon would sound, speaking when transformed. "Every dragon has to learn sometime how to fly. And this is one of the best ways!" Whereas Ruby was horse sized at best, Yang was just reaching past the height and width of an elephant, and her horns were more developed, curling down towards her chin. Her gold scales shimmered with the light of sun as it moved towards the horizon. "Besides, you can't ride around on my back all the time, you have to learn to fly on your own soon enough. Might as well be now."

"But from here? Jumping off a cliff?" The younger's voice ended in a squeak as she dared to peek over the edge once more. Moving one paw, her claws brushed against a loose pebble, causing it to jump and fall off the edge. The hesitation bubbling inside of Ruby only increased as she watched how long it took for the stone to reach the trees. It became too small for her to even see any more before the time it was three quarters of the way down. "I don't know if-"

Another loud squeak came out as a large paw pushed against her hindquarters, giving her a shove strong enough to go right off the edge. Pulling her paw back to herself, Yang watched intently as her sister fell down, certain that it would come to her like instinct to open her wings and start flying. This had been how she had learnt to fly herself, even if it had been accidental that time. However, as the seconds passed and the scarlet dragonling kept dropping further down, she grew worried.

"Hmm... maybe she needs some help?" Spreading her own wings wide, tanned webbing showing between the ridges of bone that separated segments, Yang dived forward, dropping down swiftly thanks to a few pumps of her wings, and catching up to where Ruby was flailing with all fours desperately, trying to find something to stop her rapid descent.

"Ruby!" Yang had to yell to be heard over the wind rushing past their ears, keeping one eye on her sister, and the other on the approaching ground. "Open your wings!" Petrified at finding herself falling suddenly, the younger hadn't had enough presence of mind to remember to do that much.

"I can't!" Ruby's response was a kneejerk reaction to the fear of falling. A glimmer of tears could be seen in the corner of her eyes that had been scrunched shut in her fear, though they soon disappeared as the rushing air tore them away, her continued flailing barely disturbing the rate at which she was plunging.

"Yes you can!" The older shouted back, growing ever more concerned at the forest fast coming up to meet them. "You know you can do it! So open those wings and start flapping!"

Peeling her eyes open, Ruby tilted her head down to see trees lurching up towards her. Those eyes welded themselves firmly shut once more with another shrill squeak at the sight, almost certain that she was about to feel immense pain. The seconds ticked by, and the lack of forest and earth smacking into her got the dragon curious, slowly opening one eye to peek out.

The trees had stopped their movement up to her, now seemingly bobbing up and down. Curiosity replacing her fear, Ruby swivelled her head all around, trying to figure out why she was now hovering in mid-air. Looking over her shoulder, she spotted her pair of short wings flapping furiously, their motion having kept her from dropping any further. The realisation of what she was doing sinking in, elation flowed through her, squealing out loud as she bounced in the air.

"I'm flying! Yang, Yang!" She called out as the yellow dragon flew back over to her, having been forced to glide away to take care of her own momentum from falling. "Look!" Ruby twisted around, managing to do a whole turn while keeping herself aloft.

"I can see." Yang's fangs were gleaming white against her contrasting scales as she gave the dragon equivalent of a grin. Although her exterior might have only appeared happy for now, inside her heart felt like it was swelling from the pride of her baby sister taking her first steps to learning how to fly.

"You did great for your first attempt! If you keep this up, I might even be able to teach you how to do your dragon breath soon. Like this!" Turning her head out to face open air, she opened her jaws wide, taking a large gasp of air inwards to inflate her chest before letting it out as a rage of lightning and sparks that flew out a dozen meters before ending. Smoke curled out from around her fangs as it eventually stopped, jaws clicking shut as Ruby watched on, slightly awed and curious as to what her own would look like.

But they shouldn't stay floating along here for much longer. Ruby was trying hard, but she wouldn't be able to keep it up for long, not on her first try. Keeping her own self aloft with a few consistent beats of her wings, the older sister glanced around for a place for them to settle in for a rest, spying a tiny clearing but a handful of yards away. "Come on, let's take a break before we head back home." Taking the lead easily, Yang drifted over to the spot, slowing down to make sure that Ruby wouldn't be that far behind once she landed.

As all four paws hit the ground with enough force to make it vibrate beneath her, Yang's form started to shift as she walked forward. Her front pair of legs rose up as if she reared back, golden scales turning swiftly into tanned skin as that pair of legs turned into arms instead. Shrinking as she took another step, a long mane of blonde curls appeared down her back, although the horns stayed. Clothing appeared on her, a leather tunic over an orange cotton shirt with a round scarf wrapped over her neck, along with tight tanned pants and a pair of black boots. Other than her horns, a few other signs remained of her other, reptilian, form, such as a patch of her golden scales on her collarbone, hidden under her scarf and its edges fading into her skin, and the fangs replacing certain teeth in both upper and bottom jaws.

Blinking her lavender eyes as she finished changing into her human form, Yang glanced back over her shoulder to spy Ruby struggling along, almost to the clearing. The poor little dragonling was huffing and puffing as she pushed herself to keep her wings going, taking a small drop when she missed a beat, recovering but her flight becoming more wonky as she came in to land.

Panting for air as her claws brushed against the ground, Ruby started shifting as soon as she could manage to. Much like the transformation that Yang had gone through, she was soon turning into a human girl, although in her case there was less of size reduction during the change. Dark straight hair with its ends tinged with red appeared around her horns, and a black dress with long sleeves soon flowed down to her knees, a hem of red ruffles to the skirt's end.

Before she could do much more than sigh happily at being back on firm ground, strong arms were wrapping themselves around her waist, drawing her in for a bone squeezing hug. Ruby let out a distressed squeak along with the air involuntarily leaving her lungs as Yang continued unabated, even picking her bodily off the ground during the hug, grinning broadly.

"Oh, I'm so proud of you!" She announced as loud as possible, swinging Ruby from one side to the other repeatedly. Yang had been waiting a while now to do this (it was hard to pull off hugs in dragon form and in mid-air) and now that she had her chance she was taking it. "My baby sister's growing up so fast!"

Leaning back too far as she lifted Ruby up, Yang stumbled as too much weight was placed on her upper body, making her fall onto her back with her sister landing on top of her. Despite that, she couldn't help but laugh happily as she let the younger roll off of her and to one side of her.

"I could have done without being shoved off, you know." Ruby complained, though she was still elated over finally being able to use her wings. "You almost gave me a heart attack!" That earned a louder laugh from Yang, who simply reached over with one hand to ruffle her sister's hair.

"You were stalling for too long, I just gave you a little push." She played off the incident, leaving Ruby to grumble to herself as she fixed the messed up hair. "And it worked out, didn't it? You managed to hover all by yourself, and then over a few yards on your own."

"It's not much compared to what you and the others can do though." That was true, but Yang and the others all had years on her when it came to flying experience. She could remember a lot of the others that had started learning to fly when she did doing only as well as hovering for a minute or two. For a first attempt, Ruby showed great potential for the future if she kept up that learning curve. "And my wings are still so small."

"They'll grow." Yang assured her as they both laid back on the grass, staring up at the dimming sky as the sun set, streaks of orange and purple overtaking the bright blue. "And practice will make them stronger, you just have to keep at it. A few weeks, and you'll be able to start doing trips to the other town and back all on your own just fine, I'm betting." Her confidence was likely to boost as well when that happened, being able to do what everyone else older than her had been able to do as they please for a while now. It must have sucked, being the youngest in their small community.

Opting to enjoy the peace and quiet of the forest for a while before heading back, the both of them fell into a comfortable silence, watching the sky as it continued to darken overhead and listening to the chirps of insects and calls of birds echoing all around them through the trees. It was so peaceful, that Yang let herself be lulled into a doze, the soft grass underneath them helping.

"Yang." The call brought a slight crease of her brows, obviously not wanting to open her eyes just yet. "Yang!" Ruby was more insistent this time, a tinge of panic slipping into her words. The elder opened her eyes back up, finding that not much time had passed since she had closed them, if she was judging how slight the changes to the sky were right. "Yang, who is that?"

The girl was pointing one hand up straight to a point overhead, having sat up sometime while her sister was asleep. Sitting up as well and following with her eyes up to where it was pointing out, Yang quickly spotted who Ruby had meant. A large dragon, far bigger than either of them, was making its way through the sky, its wings flapping every few seconds to keep it in midair and on track to where it was headed. Onyx scales were making it harder to spot against the darkening sky, and the carmine hue to the underside of its wings didn't help matters either. But the glowing gold embellishments along its sides, those did stand out. A tail slithered through the air behind it, ended with a jagged spike to its tip.

Just looking at them gave Yang a sense of dread that sunk low into her stomach and sat there like a heavy stone pressing down on her. There was something off about the dragon, as if they had an aura of danger to them. Luckily, it seemed that it hadn't noticed the girls resting in the clearing by themselves, and was ignoring all else as it flew along gracefully. The best plan would be to err on the side of caution by waiting a while under cover for them to be good and gone, and then to take Ruby home.

"Okay." Whispering in hushed tones despite the fact that the dragon overhead shouldn't be able to hear them anyways, Yang leaned over to her sister, placing one hand on Ruby's shoulder as she continued to watch intently, her mouth opened slightly as she stared. "Ruby, we need to move to the trees and-"

"Yang." She was cut off by her sister, stopping despite the quietness of which her name was spoken with. A flicker of fear had made its way to Ruby's silver eyes as she seemed to pale. "They're heading towards our town."

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**A warning: If you like this, and want more, you may want to prepare yourself for sporadic updates at best after the prologue is finished. I've got other series going on, so I can't promise that I'll be able to keep updating this as regularly as the others, at least until I finish one of them. I'll try to do once a week at least like the others, but I really can't promise for sure. ****Hope you liked it anyways! If you did, as always, please consider leaving a review.**


	2. Prologue Part 2

It had gotten darker when Yang had shifted back into dragon form and taken off from the clearing, Ruby riding on her back. Although the younger sister had wanted to head back straight away after seeing the unknown dragon heading in its direction, the older sibling demanded that they show some caution. Even if it turned out that there was nothing to have been afraid of once they reached their town, everything about the other dragon that had flown overhead screamed danger to Yang.

She was pretty sure that Ruby had felt the same about them as well, judging by the serious worry on her sister's face as she jumped onto Yang's back. Lurching forward as she spread her wings, the elder of the pair took off from the ground, pumping her wings energetically as she sought to increase her height and speed rapidly. Soon, the wind was whipping past them as she moved, pulling at Ruby's hair as she clung on to the ridges between her sister's shoulder blades.

"Relax Ruby." Yang tried to reassure her sibling, craning her head back briefly to look at her. "It was likely just a traveller." Even if something inside of her said different. The small community rarely ever saw travellers from other areas that would arrive unannounced, mainly just relatives who would send word ahead before coming. It was also unsure of if her words were just for Ruby's sake, or to reassure herself.

Those glyphs along their sides... They reminded her of something out of the books that Qrow taught them with. Something meant for battles, Yang could remember that much about them. Think, think, _think_!

Glyphs were symbols that could be inscribed with potent magic, to enhance all kinds of abilities on a dragon when they were in their reptilian form. Normally, only one or two could be placed temporarily on their scales, it would take extreme skill and magic to be able to do more. To see that many, glowing right across the other's body, spoke levels of what they could do. And just what their aims might be.

That was why just looking at them had filled her with dread. A dragon armed to the claws with glyphs all over wouldn't just be heading somewhere to talk or visit someone. They were coming to fight a _war_, all by themselves.

A shiver ran down her spine as Yang tilted to one side to drift round the side of a large mountain, their town nestled into the base and around the side from them. The sunset was long gone now, the full moon rising up from the opposite end of the horizon to spread silver light over the forest. As Ruby braced herself to prevent slipping off during the turn, Yang sniffed the air, confused that she could smell the scent of ashes up here. Any trace of fires normally couldn't be smelt from this far off.

The red and orange glow that flickered over rock and trees as they neared home clued her in as to why. As the town came into view for the pair, the flames that were consuming houses and shops could be seen clearly from above. The surrounding area that made up the place they had lived in for so long was in the process of being razed to the ground, a blazing stream of fire shooting out across the main street, the only thing not catching on fire being the packed earth. Nothing else was spared from being scorched as the dragon laid waste to the village from its centre.

"Shit!" Yang hissed, watching as others shifted and tried to take on the rogue dragon destroying their homes. All it did was prove a momentary distraction for them, as the dragon reared up to slam down upon one that had gotten close, jaws quickly grabbing onto the neck of the defender.

The gold dragon could feel her sister bury her face against her sister's scales rather than watch a friend die brutally in front of them. Back down in the centre of the town, the dark dragon roared as it lifted its dripping fangs from the corpse in front of it, glyphs gleaming as bright as the flames surrounding it. Not wanting to watch much more, Yang's gaze flicked over to their own home, slightly isolated from the rest of the community by a path that led out about two hundred meters into the forest and to beneath a cliff-side that the house leaned into.

"We have to get uncle Qrow and get out of here!" She voiced her own thoughts, veering to make a direct line towards the house. Another group of townspeople shifted in an attempt to swarm the rogue dragon all at once as the sisters swooped down to their home. Mighty roars were cut short as Yang descended amidst the trees and hit the ground, Ruby sliding off her back and running into the house as the elder turned back into human form.

"Uncle Qrow!" The girl yelled out as she barrelled through the open door. The fire that the dragon had been spreading hadn't reached up here just yet, but seeing the door hanging open had sent a pang of panic through her. There was a crash up the back end of the house after she called out, Ruby racing towards the source of it as Yang entered the front door.

Lying on the floor next to smashed glass cabinet that had toppled over, was a middle aged man clutching onto a large crystal blue ball with both hands, a wooden cane lying next to him. An unruly mane of dark hair was pushed back with one hand as he groaned, stumbling to get back onto his feet as he strove to also keep a grip on the ball. He glanced towards his nieces that had appeared, silver eyes widening in alarm as Ruby came to help him up. Like them, he also held the same draconic features that hinted at his other form, pale horns curving backwards from where they sprang out of his head.

"What are you two doing here?" He shouted, not caring that the shattered glass had torn deep cuts into his face, which were currently bleeding as he mentally cursed how things were going. "You weren't supposed to come back yet!"

"We saw a strange dragon flying towards the town and got worried!" He grimaced at the answer. They were supposed to have sent all the younger members of the town off long enough that they wouldn't be back in time to be caught up in the fight. Giving Yang the idea of taking Ruby out for some flight training had been his method, the other parents and guardians choosing such tactics as sending them on errands that would make them have to stay overnight in the next town over. Why couldn't he have just copied them and done the same? "What's going on?"

"There's no time to talk, the both of you need to get out of here right now." Qrow commanded. They couldn't waste time now, not with her almost right to his door. "Yang, take Ruby and fly away from here as fast as you can." The blonde was startled to hear such an order. Sending the younger sister away and out of harm's reach, yes, but her as well? She could fight almost as well as any of the adults already! "Don't just stand there, take your sister and run!"

"Oh, it's too late for that I'm afraid, dear Qrow." A voice crooned from the entrance to the house, causing the man in question to freeze up where he stood. The gentle repetitive clack of a pair of heels echoed into the home as a woman strode in, amber eyes gleaming as she came in from the night-time darkness outside. Long black hair had been swept to one side and in front of one shoulder, making it hard to see both her eyes depending on position. A red dress clung to her, patterns across the long sleeves and collar of it slowly losing a golden shine to them as she walked closer to the small family.

His hands tightened around the ball as Qrow kept his gaze locked onto her as she lazily scanned the scene. Yang felt her hands clenching into fists as she noticed the light dripping of blood coming from one of the woman's hands, a small trail of blood spatters across the floor and out the front door.

"So." The woman finished her scanning, frowning slightly as she choose to stare right at Qrow. "Where is it? Where is this information you managed to get your hands on?"

"...Destroyed. It's gone." He answered in a defensive tone. "There's nothing here for you to find, Cinder."

"It is? Then I suppose I'll just have to force it out of you then." Idly, she turned the dripping hand around, gazing at her bloody palm as if mildly interested in the red liquid that trailed across it. "Too bad I've already killed everyone else who was in this village you set yourself up in. But..." Her gaze slid across the two girls with him, a sadistic smile coming up. "It looks like I've got something else here that will definitely get your attention. So unless you want me to break your little family here into bloody, tiny, pieces, I suggest you start talking." And as if planning on who to grab first, her eyes shifted onto Ruby.

Snapping, Yang lunged at Cinder, a bone shaking roar splitting the air as scales and claws flashed into being, the room being torn apart as the teenager shifted into dragon once more. Blind rage driving her forward with flaming red eyes, she whipped her neck towards the woman, jaws opening wide to show rows of sharp teeth coming to maim or possibly kill the woman. If the bolts of lightning flying out as part of her breath didn't reach her before them.

The woman didn't even bother to take a step out of harm's way, the smile turning into a smirk as she rose a hand towards the incoming dragon ready to tear her apart. A bright flash made Ruby shut her eyes tight, hearing Yang's roar cut short in the moment of blindness, followed by the loud crunch of wood being smashed along with the floor trembling beneath her feet.

When she could finally blink her eyes open, the first thing she saw was Yang lying limply on her back, halfway through a broken wall and on the opposite side of the house that she had charged at Cinder from. A piece of timber dropped from above, drawing the girl's gaze up to where the black dragon stood on her hind legs, wings spread wide open in the room that could be afforded with the roof smashed off, only the black night's sky and twinkling stars above them now.

"Ruby, run!" Qrow shoved the girl behind her, hoping she would actually obey the urging and take off out the back door nearby while he tried to hold the woman back from chasing after. A large paw swatted him to one side before he could do anything more, causing him to go flying into one of the remaining walls left. Hitting it with his back, he dropped to the ground, the crystal ball slipping from his grip as red blossomed across the front of his slashed shirt, Cinder's claws having sliced through him during the swat.

A moment of hesitation at seeing both members of her family now knocked aside cost Ruby her chance to get away. The same paw came back again, this time wrapping around her waist to drag her up into the air. Squirming furiously as she tried to work her way out of the larger dragon's grip, the girl panicked, reverting back into being a dragon as she fought against her captor's hold, despite the fact that the paw was completely wrapped around her middle without the need to use the other one. At seeing the crimson dragon now in her grip, the black one chuckled deeply.

"Ah, you're so little! I bet you don't even know how to fly yet." The dragon teased, the same rumbling undertone that Yang had in dragon form much deeper for the woman, turning her voice almost demonic. "Too bad that now you might not even get the chance to." The other paw came up, a claw choosing to slide up along one of the younger's horns, making her squirm even more. Gold eyes glanced down at Qrow as he slowly sat up from his knock, making sure he could see his niece now in the woman's grip. "Let's start off with something small, shall we?"

The claw that had slid along Ruby's horn now curled around it, tugging on it with an ever increasing pressure. It had started off mild, but soon it was enough to make it feel like the whole of the horn was going to be pulled out of the girl's skull, drawing out a shriek as the pain grew. Still staring at the man as she pulled on the horn, Cinder swiftly grew bored of the firm line he kept his mouth glued into, despite the horror showing clearly on his face.

There was a jerk to her hand, and a clear snap came with the movement. Ruby screamed, the pain like that of having an arm or leg broken. Tears budded out of the corners of her clenched eyes, thick crimson blood beginning to well up on the jagged end of the now broken horn, the other half of it still in Cinder's grip until she threw it over shoulder, having no more need for it.

"Are you going to tell me now, Qrow, or are you going to wait until after I pull her apart, limb by limb?" The dragon questioned out loud. Her irritation levels grew as she saw him simply furrow his brows, biting down onto the inside of his lip in order to keep himself silent, even with his blood continuing to stain through his clothes. It was a bad cut, and it almost seemed likely that he would bleed out to his death if he kept this up. Which might have been what he was aiming for.

That same goddamned stubborn streak! Temper growing short, she opted for a more direct approach.

The grip on Ruby disappeared, letting the dragonling drop to the floor as gravity took affect on her. There was no time in between hitting the floor and getting to her feet to scramble away, a foot instead stomping onto her back and shoving her into the ground. Another scream tore itself out from her mouth as Cinder grinded the hind paw down onto her.

"You know you can't do anything to stop me Qrow!" Cinder growled down at him as she felt the girl's bones start to give way underneath the pressure. "Not unless you tell me what you know. So speak already, unless you actually want to see them both wind up dead before you!" Her tail thumped down into the wooden floor, another crack of timber following the move.

In her attempts to make the man talk, the woman had forgotten about Yang, whom she had presumed knocked unconscious from her earlier attack. A body slammed into the larger dragon as she turned to focus on Qrow, knocking her aside and off of Ruby. Whimpering, the younger girl swayed slowly to getting back on all fours and standing up as Yang set herself to loom protectively over her sister. Sparks spat out from behind her fangs as she snarled at Cinder, who was lurching to rise back up onto hind legs yet again as she roared with anger at being disrupted.

None of them were expecting the crunch of glass to come amidst all this, Cinder pausing from lunging at the younger dragons to look down towards one foot curiously. Blue shards were scattered around her claws, Qrow's crystal ball having rolled underneath the hind paw just before she had stood up. She would have paid it no mind and gone back onto her urge to maim the other girl for the attack, had the sound of cracking glass not started up.

It was her claws that first turned into blue crystal, the transformation quickly ascending up her body as the paw connected turned to glass as well. As it took hold of her leg, a quickly spreading patch of glass raced across the floor towards where Yang and Ruby were watching, too stunned to notice its approach to them.

"You!" Cinder rounded on Qrow, her glare threatening to turn him to ashes even as her body slowed up on her from the spreading crystal. "What have you done to me, Qrow!" His entire front now red, and a pool now on the ground around him, the man simply let out an empty laugh. This had been his aim all along, but he had not planned to get his nieces caught up in this as well. And now they would pay the price as well.

"I've trapped you." He answered simply, even as he felt himself grow limp. "By the time you get out of that crystal, there will be a way to end you. That was the information that I was given." Even as he felt himself dying, Qrow enjoyed the look of surprise and rage that made Cinder's eyes grow wide as the crystal found its way up her neck. "Your time is over, Cinder."

Roaring with fury, a jet of fire shot out from her mouth towards the man, ending just before it reached him as she finished fully transforming into glass, gleaming under the moonlight. But the sound of cracking glass hadn't ended. Curious, Ruby went to take a step forward, only to find that her legs wouldn't respond.

"Yang!" A glance down showed that the same crystal was now spreading up her own feet, Yang's being encased as well as the siblings struggled. It would not budge, no matter how much they fought against the transformation.

"Ruby, Yang." The voice of their uncle was growing softer as they looked over to where Qrow lay. Neither of them had noticed the amount of blood until now, too pre-occupied with the woman who sought to break them. "I'm sorry." He continued even as he saw their expressions, Ruby's horrified one, Yang shocked.

"You weren't meant to get caught up in all this. The magic crystal... it was meant to go after any dragon stuck near it when it shattered. I can't call it off now." He struggled to take in a breath to keep talking, needing to get more in before the crystal would take full hold over their bodies. "I can only hope now, that in whatever future you may wake up in, that you will take care of each other, and find a way to be happy. I regret that... I will not be able to join you and see what you will both grow to be..." Unable to keep himself upright any more, Qrow slumped over, hitting the ground as his vision blurred.

"Uncle Qrow!" Pushing herself, Ruby managed to jerk a paw forward towards the dying man just before the glass grew over her head, freezing her in place at the same time as her sister. Now all was quiet, save for the crackling of the burning town in the distance, and the shallow breathing that was coming from Qrow.

He could feel himself slipping away as he looked from the statues that the girls had become, and up to Cinder's one looming above him, mouth still open to let her flame breath flare out at him.

"May you rot in hell when your end comes." He cursed her with a grim smile, taking a breath before shutting his eyes for the last time.


	3. Chapter 1

Museums weren't typically the places that you would to expect to find the elite of the city partying it up on a Friday night. But for the revealing of the new exhibition that the Schnee family had so generously donated to the Vale Museum of History and Fine Arts, for one night the old building would be devoid of bored kids, droning teachers and oblivious parents, and would instead be filled with the select group of people that held more money between them than the rest of the city could earn in a year.

Nearly every single light inside had been switched on, the fluorescent beams leaving no traces of shadows amidst the rooms that were being filled with men and women wearing only the most expensive brands available, with jewellery dripping around nearly every part of the body it could be crammed onto. Servers dressed neatly in white suits flitted from group to group with trays of hors d'oeuvres or glasses of fine champagne placed on them, their expressions caught between cordial and blank as the drone of cued fake laughter and the bragging of business deals continued on.

Some would choose to ooh and ah over the paintings positioned along the walls, or the sculptures set around the rooms, trying to seem more intellectual than their peers by explaining what they meant, even if they really had no clue what the brush strokes on the canvas meant, nor what the figures carved out of stone were representing. And the others would nod along, as if that interpretation was actually something profound, and not something that they were pulling out of their asses to make themselves look impressive and just as artistic as the people who had made the pieces.

And in the main room, where the most people had gathered to admire the new piece on display, was what they had all come for. The glittering mass of crystal that was sat upon a small raised platform, the only flaw that could seen of the massive lump of gleaming stone that must have been carved a thousand years ago into the form of a dragon being the one horn that had its upper half snapped off. Most of the murmurs of the crowd gathered was that of awe and appreciation for the skill they must have had, making the crystal look dangerously close to lifelike, as if the half furled wings could actually flap out for air at any moment.

In front of the dragon statue, next to its open mouth displaying many fangs, from large to minute in scale, was a man giving a beaming smile to all those who came up to shake his hand. This tall man, with his salt and pepper hair combed back in a professional hairdo, along with his beard and moustache being perfectly groomed, looked to be the one responsible for the display, or at least that could be inferred by the many people congratulating him on his generosity for handing over such a piece to the museum. And of course, he was happy to take all this praise directed at him, his smile only flickering for a moment when a certain question came his way from a rather portly and bald gentleman.

"Forgive me for asking, but I thought I heard that the display was supposed to be of two dragons that had been excavated?" The question slipped out as the man took another glance at the statue before them. "Maybe I had misheard, or did something happen to the other?" A practiced laugh slipped from the former.

"That's the problem with moving large pieces along by train." He answered, tone jovial despite the roughness to his voice from age. "Things tend to get jostled around. Unfortunately the larger one was in need of some repairs when it arrived, and they couldn't be finished in time to have it appear alongside the smaller of the pair." The practiced lie slipped easily out of his lips. "And I'd much rather show it off once it's back to being as flawless a piece as this one."

Mr Arc seemed to take the explanation without question, replying with an understanding nod. Had he prodded further as to what had happened to the larger of the pair, he might have stirred up Schnee's anger over the events that had taken place earlier that day all over again. And he couldn't have that, not when he needed to keep face in front of all his allies and enemies, all here tonight to either celebrate with him at his display of superiority, or to scan for any sign of weakness to be exploited.

"I see. What a pity, I was hoping to take a picture home to show my boy what he was missing. Ah, and there's miss Weiss!" His attention was diverted as a smaller figure joined the men, giving a slight curtsy to Arc as she was noticed. The dark spikes of the crystal ornament holding her long ponytail of silver hair towards one side of her head poked up into view as she rose back to her feet and dropped the azure skirt of her dress, half resembling the points of a tiara. A tentative smile graced her face as she looked between them, the colour of her eyes as blue as the crystal dragon next to them. "Always a pleasure to see you!"

"Likewise, Mr Arc." She replied back politely, a gentle bob of her head going along with her words. "I trust you have been enjoying this evening?"

Her hands folded together in her lap, keeping up with her facade of being the perfect adoring daughter accompanying her father, as she had been doing nearly all night long. In reality, this party was a chance for her to practice her skills at overhearing scraps of business chatter amidst the guests she had been greeting, working on deciphering the tones and words used behind her back to signs that spoke of what plans they had in store, or were trying to make succeed. If she was to eventually inherit her father's company, she needed to know just who would try to stab her in the back immediately on taking the position. And whom would bide their time to do so.

"Indeed! Everything has been fantastic thus far!" If there was one thing that was obvious about Mr Arc to everyone who even looked at him, it was that he was certainly an upbeat and enthusiastic man. And rather simple to please. "The only thing that I wish could have happened tonight would have to be convincing Jaune to have come with me." Weiss's gaze slid away as the blonde boy her own age was mentioned. She felt embarrassed just remembering all the times that the straggly blonde would have tried to hit on her, despite lacking any kind of wit or grace... or actually anything else appealing other than being the son of an important business partner of her father. That fact was the only reason she even put up with him coming to events like these.

"Normally, he wouldn't pass up a chance to come, but something else seems to have caught his attention of late." The grin on his face grew broader. "He's probably taking after his father, and found a pretty girl to chase after." He followed that line up with some deep laughter, the Schnees joining in with their own polite versions, even though Weiss felt like pitying whoever it was that caught the boy's attention this time.

"Well, I'm afraid I must go talk with some of my other guests." Schnee said as he caught sight of a small group of people being ushered in by a member of his security. Apparently some people thought arriving fashionably late was still a thing. "Why don't you come with me, Mr Arc? It looks like Peach has finally shown himself, perhaps we'll have a chance to discuss the latest news in the realm of Grimm studies. Weiss, why don't you go and mingle some more? I think the Locks brought their daughter with them." He gave a quick glance over to her, seeing the spark in her eyes as she turned towards him, no doubt subtle words of irritation at being dismissed from likely business talk about to commence about to flow out from her opening mouth. "Play nice with the other people your own age for once." He interrupted her before she could get past a syllable, walking off with Arc in tow.

With no eyes currently focused on her, Weiss let her mouth fall from its smile and into a frown as she turned towards the statue. She was almost eighteen now, practically an adult! Hell, even the laws said she was already able to start entering universities or move out of home if she so wished to. And yet her father still refused to let her start learning about the inside of his company and their work. He surely knew that one day he would have to step down as CEO and let someone else take the reins, so why not her? Did he want all those private tutors and places at the best schools money could buy to go to waste?

Instead, all he ever seemed to do lately was suggest that she go mix with the other children of the influential and powerful. Urgh. That wouldn't have been so bad, if half of the other families didn't jump at the chance to try and pair one of their sons up with the heiress to the biggest conglomerate of the country. If she even stopped to talk to one boy, at least three other parents would come up in the mean time and 'introduce' their own sons. She would be lucky to even be able to get some time to herself after that started, it would turn into a mass of piranhas rushing for the chunk of meat thrown into the water.

Staring at one of the eyes of the dragon, Weiss distracted herself from thoughts on eventually having that mass of suitors thrown at her again by taking in the statue's features. It was simply amazing that other than the missing half of that horn, the statue hadn't even gained a scratch since it was made, not even after having spent hundreds of years buried under stone from a cliff that had collapsed nearby. The gleaming stone dragon might have even spent more years hidden away, had her father's company not been in the process of trying to set up a new power plant in the area and came upon it by accident during excavations to lay down foundations. It, and the larger carving that had been found with it, had almost instantly been dubbed the latest ancient marvel to be revealed.

If it hadn't been for a certain... accident, that had happened during transit, both dragons would be on display right now, the larger of them likely to have its head almost touching the high ceiling. That would have been a sight to see. As it was, without its partner, this dragon looked to be almost scared on its own, the curled wings and bent legs making it look like it had been cowering, its pupils focused on something dead ahead with mouth open to cry out.

...Wait, did that pupil just move to face her?

No, that couldn't be right. This was a solid mass of crystal, and the eyes were carved into it. It had remained this way for hundreds of years without change, and it must be a trick of the bright lights overhead. No way was the carving for narrow pupil now facing her way instead of straight ahead. And it must also be her not remembering right that the crystal was opaque instead of transparent as she thought it had been when the party had started that night.

The carved mark twitched even as Weiss watched, clearly jerking to look around the silver haired girl, back to the front of the room, and then up to the ceiling. The motion was rapid, flicking around with increasing speed, and the heiress could no longer pretend that this wasn't happening when other people started to take notice, an anxious murmur growing around the statue. It was only when the sharpened claws started to rattle against the platform that people quickly stepped back from it (Weiss included), the dragon rocking furiously from side to side as a rumbling noise grew to fill the air.

A few shouts rang out as the crystal started to crack audibly, nearly everyone on the same floor noticing what was going on. Sharp zigzagging lines were snaking their way rapidly across the whole of the statue, people backing even further away for fear that the statue had been used as a way to smuggle in a bomb, some pushing against each other to run for the exit.

The instant that the crystal finally shattered, a large figure of red lurched forth out of the scattering shards of stone. A squeaky roar ripped through the air as it opened its mouth, the fangs the massive reptile had on display exactly like those of the statue. Except those had belonged to an inanimate object. This, Weiss realised as she stared from the wall she had her back pressed to, was an actual, living, moving, and breathing dragon, it's tail lashing from side to side behind it as a large head twisted round, movements becoming more agitated as it looked over the crowds of now screaming people rushing away from it.

...Was it her imagination, or was the reptile slightly bigger than the statue it had appeared out of had been? Weiss didn't get a chance to think much on that realisation, as a group of security personnel stormed towards the creature, their black outfits standing out against those rushing past them.

One fired a tazer at the dragon, a pair of wires shooting out to hit crimson scales with a splash of sparks bursting where they struck. It flinched away from the blow despite the wires immediately bouncing off its tough hide, before rounding towards them, an angry hiss despite its wings furling outwards and the pair of steps it took back from them.

As Weiss continued to watch from her position against the nearby wall, the dragon reared its head back, lurching back with mouth wide open. It might have turned out an impressive display, had the motion only delivered a lick of flames no bigger than its own head. It was enough to make the security back up slightly instead of trying to corner the beast, which it took as an opportunity to flap its wings hard enough to make it lift a few inches from the floor.

The gust of sudden wind from the movement threw the guards off their feet, some even losing their guns as they fell back. Despite having a momentary advantage, the dragon didn't lunge at them. No, instead, it started to scramble towards the opposite direction they had come from, wings awkwardly making small flaps to speed it along as paws skittered across the wooden floor, disappearing swiftly into another room and vanishing from sight.

Frozen from shock during the whole ordeal, Weiss finally noticed now that she, the security team, and a handful of other people, were the only ones left that hadn't fled the scene. The exhibition of the crystal statue, which the girl had suggested to her father over a week ago when the stone dragons were first found, had been completely ruined. The mad scramble to get out had caused some delicate pieces to get knocked over, smashed against the ground. Most of the paintings had gotten off better, but there were still a few that had wound up knocked off the wall, and a pair even had gaping holes ripped into their canvas. The cost to fix all the pieces could very well run into the hundreds of thousands.

The common response to having been so close to a destructive beast of myth of legend would be to get the hell out of there while she still could. But there was anger bubbling up inside of Weiss as her expression remained a blank slate. How dare... How dare such a beast ruin this night? All the planning that she had begged her father to let her be in charge of, all the time and effort she had put into making the party go well enough to impress him, all of it was wasted now! There was a hardened glint to her eyes as she looked towards where it had slithered off to. She still had her emergency bottles of Dust stashed in the waistline of her dress, didn't she?

The security team was still lurching to their feet when she dashed off after the dragon, intent on making it at least feel some pain for the night it had ruined. Once in the room, she almost thought she had lost it, until she noticed claw marks scattered across the entry to a stairwell, the fire door that had kept people out from it broken from its hinges and on the floor.

It was colder in the stairwell, the vents that had kept the galleries warm for the museum's visitors not having been installed here. Why would they be, when this was meant to be only an escape route in case of a fire? The slight irony that a beast of fire would use this to flee was lost on the girl, scanning once more for the claw marks to tell which way it had gone. Only now, she spotted with furrowed brows of confusion, there were smears of some kind of liquid against the wall, slick maroon splotches that gleamed sickly under the artificial light.

A pained whimper echoed down from above, causing Weiss to slow as she followed the markings left behind. Had there been some cleaner working on the floor above and had been exiting by the stairs, only to get caught by the dragon? Reaching under the white sash that had held the waist of her dress tight, the heiress brought out a slim bottle filled with something that looked like fine red sand, keeping it in front of her like a ward meant to keep danger from her, slowly taking one step at a time as she ascended upwards.

"Yang?" The whimper became a word, tinged with fear and anxiety. Weiss paused. It had been loud enough that the person should be just beyond the next turn of the stairs above her head. Which ended on the landing for the only floor above the exhibition's. The claw marks had just disappeared where she stood, but she could spy the door for the next floor still intact, and the splotches were now bigger, their sheen now a brighter red that made them easy to recognise as blood.

Cautiously, the bravery that had been born from anger having seceded, Weiss took the final steps up towards where the sniffling noises were echoing from. Again she stopped dead in her tracks, though this time, it was because she could finally see who she had thought had been a victim of the dragon.

A short haired girl, huddled on the floor with arms wrapped around her knees, flinched when Weiss appeared, pressing herself further into the wall she had been leaning into. Locks of dark hair tinged with red were hanging into her face, some sticking to her fair skin where tears had trailed shiny marks down to her chin. Silver eyes, alight with fear, were staring at the other girl as she took another step towards the smaller one, the heiress's own gaze stuck on the pair of horns sprouting out from the dark hair. One was slightly crooked along the few inches that was its length, the other would have been the same, had it not been only a broken stump barely two inches out, red liquid building up at its end.

It was quiet in the stairwell, quiet enough that Weiss could hear the laboured breathing of the girl as they stared wide eyed at each other. The trail of blood marks ended here, leaving little doubt as to the identity of the stranger, even if it seemed illogical for it to be true.

"...you're-" Weiss took the last step up to the landing, causing another flinch from the girl.

"Don't come near me!" She shouted, sharp fangs momentarily flashing amidst her teeth and her pupils elongating to become cat-like as she did so, trying to act aggressive and dangerous even as she backed herself into a corner. Her horn scraped against the wall, causing yet another thin smear of blood along the wall. "Where's Yang?" She asked yet again for some person Weiss had never heard of.

"Yang!?" The shout echoed down the well, each repeat of the name echoed back fainter than the last as it rang downwards to fade into eventual silence yet again. The rapid breathing of the girl became quicker and more ragged the longer it seemed she was alone with this stranger in front of her.

Quickly analysing the situation, Weiss deduced that this could be the start of a panic attack. And her bleeding was only bound to get worse if that happened. As much as she had been pissed off enough to want to hunt down the dragon that had destroyed her night, the heiress wasn't stone hearted to the point of being capable to ignore the palpable pain that was exuding from the hunched over girl.

With a vexed sigh, the silver haired girl put the bottle of Dust back into a pouch hidden beneath her sash, putting her hands to work at undoing the knot holding the white silk piece in place over her ammo belt. A moment later, and the other girl jerked from surprise as fabric was wrapped around her broken horn, crying out instinctively.

"Oh calm down!" Weiss snapped, ice blue eyes locking with silver orbs. "Or do you want your wound to get worse?" That shut the girl up, keeping her noises to only sniffles as the heiress wound the sash over and around the horn, trying to turn it into a makeshift bandage thick enough to slow down the blood flowing out. The process felt like it took ages, though in actuality it wound up taking less than a minute.

Giving the leftover end a tug to make sure it was wrapped tight and firm, Weiss slipped it under some of the other fabric to hold it in place. Finished, she flopped down next to the now quiet girl, not caring much for decorum now that no one else of importance could see her.

"What's your name?" The girl twitched, looking over to Weiss with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. She really hadn't been expecting anyone to act even remotely friendly, had she?

"...It's Ruby." She eventually answered, pressing her face back down into the fabric of the black dress draped across her knees when she finished. The shouts of the security force from before were now echoing up the stairwell, along with the thud of booted feet, too many to be simply just the few that had appeared before. Sounded like the cavalry had finally organised itself enough for a proper attack, with a Schnee having gone missing during the brief chaos.

"Well Ruby..." Weiss said as she listened to the men that had apparently found the burst open door down below. "Looks like you'll have a lot of explaining to do."


End file.
